Turning the Page
By Andrew Grey
Malcolm Webber is still grieving the loss of his partner of twenty years to cancer. He’s buried his mind and feelings in his legal work and isn’t looking for another relationship. He isn’t expecting to feel such a strong attraction when he meets Hans Erickson—especially since the man is quite a bit younger than him.
Hans is an adventure writer with an exciting lifestyle to match. When he needs a tax attorney to straighten out an error with the IRS, he ends up on the other side of the handsome Malcolm’s desk. The heat between them is undeniable, but business has to come first. When it’s concluded, Hans leaps on the chance to make his move.
Malcolm isn’t sure he’s ready for the next chapter in his life. Hans is so young and active that Malcolm worries he won’t be able to hold his interest for long. Just when he’s convinced himself to take the risk and turn the page, problems at the law office threaten to end their love story before it can really begin.
Table of Contents
To Dominic. I’m grateful he loves me and has a sense of humor. Somehow he always ends up as the model for the dead lover in my character’s past.
ROUTINE. THAT
would be the word that best described Malcolm Webber—routine. His life had fallen into so many ruts he didn’t even recognize them any longer. He got up on a Monday morning and shuffled his way into the bathroom. He didn’t even crack his eyes open as he brushed his teeth, washed his hands and face, and combed his hair. There was no need. He knew where everything was because he went through the same motions each and every morning. The way Malcolm figured it, he could go through his zombie routine and it would be like getting an extra half hour of sleep. He’d already laid out his clothes the night before, so he pulled them on without thinking and left the bedroom.
The scent of coffee brought him to a kind of reality. He didn’t smile, but the smell was a siren song with the promise that it would help wake him up and give him a little of the energy he needed to start his day. He descended the stairs, the coffee acting like the scent for a bloodhound. In the kitchen, Malcolm poured some into one of the mugs that sat next to the programmable pot and took his first sip. It was strong and sharp, just the way he liked it. He didn’t turn on the television or make any unnecessary noise. His routine was too ingrained and practiced for that. He got some crackers, and a few bites of cheese from the refrigerator, and ate them for breakfast. Twenty years earlier, he and David had honeymooned in Europe after their commitment ceremony, and he’d gotten used to a more European breakfast. So ever since, he’d eaten a few crackers with cheese first thing in the morning. The action used to make him think of the little inn he and David had woken up in that first morning in Freiburg after hours and hours of travel. They’d stumbled downstairs after making morning love and had found a very different breakfast waiting for them than what they were used to. Malcolm had had cheese on some crisp type of crackers, and he’d had that same thing every morning for the rest of the trip. In the end, he’d brought the habit home with him.
Malcolm drank more of his coffee, the caffeine acting on his system, and he became more aware of his surroundings. He carried his mug through the house as he located his wallet and keys in their usual place and got his coat. It was frigid outside—winter in Milwaukee. But this was really cold. He felt it deep down, even inside the house. The air crackled around him, it was so dry. The air only felt like that when it was below zero outside. Not that Malcolm really thought about it. He knew the feeling, and his instincts had him grabbing his gloves and hat from their appropriate spot.
He set everything on the chair in the kitchen to finish his coffee. By now his eyes were open, but he still wasn’t fully aware. His coffee hadn’t really kicked in yet, but that would be just a few more minutes. The heated water that ran through the pipes that warmed the house
tink
ed every now and then as it reached a spot that was cool and the pipes expanded a little. Other than that the house was quiet.
Malcolm finished his coffee, rinsed the mug, and placed it in the sink. Then he walked through the house and up the stairs. He went back to the bedroom and pushed the door open, walking to the bed in the still-dark room.
He leaned over it and realized it was empty. In those few seconds, his morning routine came to an abrupt end. David was gone, and he wasn’t coming back. Malcolm turned and sat on the edge of the bed. He’d actually made it to leaving the house thinking that David was still asleep in their bed. That he was still alive and with him. Malcolm sighed as tears welled in his eyes for the millionth time. For ten or fifteen precious minutes, at least as far as Malcolm was concerned, his David had been with him once more, and he hadn’t felt the loss, his constant companion for the past thirteen months. He’d been free and happy, in a way, for a whole fifteen minutes.
Malcolm walked around to the other side the bed, his side, and straightened the covers. After more than a year, he still slept in the same space he had for twenty years. The other side was David’s side of the bed, and he couldn’t bring himself to use it. “Why did you have to go?” he asked the empty space David had occupied, but of course there was no answer.
Malcolm wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and left the tidied room, going back downstairs and pulling on his outside gear. He grabbed his case from near the back door and stepped out into air so cold it hit him like a hammer. He pulled the door closed and locked it before trudging along the snow-covered walk to the garage.
Inside the equally cold structure, Malcolm got into the blue BMW David had bought a couple of years ago and started the engine. He pressed the button to open the garage door and waited for it to lift while praying for the heat to come out of the vents. He pressed the button for his seat warmer and shivered for a few seconds until the door was up. Then he slowly backed out of the garage into the alley behind the house, closed the garage door, and cautiously moved forward, the tires crunching the snow loudly enough to be heard inside as he started the fifteen-minute drive into work.
The route to his office was familiar, and Malcolm usually made the trip on autopilot. But this morning the roads were covered with snow, and since it was so cold, patches of ice were possible anywhere, so he took some extra time.
“MORNING, MALCOLM,”
Jane said as he walked past her desk and into his office. “I put your coffee on your desk, along with your schedule for the day so far. It’s Monday, and you know how Gary tends to change things up.”
“Morning,” he said, trying to at least sound cheerful. “Thanks for the coffee. I’m going to need it.” He turned toward the door. “I wish Gary would make up his mind about what he wants to do. It would be nice to know what we’re all walking into.”
“You already have a busy client schedule, so you don’t have much time today,” Jane said.
That was the first good thing that had happened to him today. Gary Hanlan could call as many meetings as he liked to talk over whatever bee he had in his bonnet at that particular moment, but client appointments always took precedence. So at least his day would be somewhat predictable.
“You have half an hour to get ready.”
Malcolm went into his office, booted up his computer, and got to work clearing his e-mail and reviewing the paperwork for his client appointments.
Everything was in his files and ready. He’d made sure of that, the way he always did. After all, he didn’t get to be one of the best tax attorneys in the state by being disorganized and sloppy. Granted, taxation wasn’t one of the glamour areas of the law. He wasn’t a litigator, and he rarely handled any high-profile cases, like his colleagues often did. He did his work and regularly turned in as many or more billable hours than anyone else in the firm. His time was in demand, and he was good at his work. It wasn’t particularly exciting, but then at his age, he wasn’t interested in excitement or glamour. Making it through the days and weeks was about all he could manage at the moment, and that was just fine with him.
Malcolm was just answering his last e-mail when a knock sounded on his door. Jane opened it and ushered in his first appointment of the day.
GARY HAD
broken his routine and not called any last-minute meetings, and by lunch Malcolm was still on schedule. Jane had gotten him his usual lunch—an egg salad sandwich on wheat toast with a small salad—and he ate it at his desk while clearing any new e-mails and inquiries.
“I got a call from a potential client. He says he needs some urgent help and was wondering if you might have an appointment available today,” Jane said as she took a seat in the corner chair and flipped off her shoes. “I hate these things.”
“Then don’t wear them. You know I don’t mind if you wear comfortable shoes in the office. It was Gary who had the ridiculous idea of what everyone should wear, and I voted against it. Yes, we need to look professional, but this isn’t the fifties, and we’re a law office, not a fashion house.”
“But….”
Malcolm took a bite of his sandwich. “You wear what the hell you want, and if he gives you any grief, tell him to talk to me.” He was getting a little tired of the power kick Gary was on, and it was time to make his opinion known.
“Thanks, Malcolm,” she said.
He looked up from his screen and smiled at her. “You work for me, not him, and I want you to be comfortable.” He leaned over his desk. “I can’t stand wearing a tie. I know I have to because it’s what clients expect, but I hate it. All summer long my neck sweats, and one of these days the copier is going to decide to eat my tie and the damn thing is going to hang me.”
Jane rolled her eyes and took another dainty bite of her salad. “Please, you never make copies.” She smirked, and Malcolm shook his head. “Now, if the coffee machine decided it wanted your tie, you’d be in trouble.”
“Yeah. Couldn’t you just see Gary coming in one morning and finding me dead in front of the coffee machine with my tie up inside?”
“Yeah. He’d probably have a fit that there was coffee on the floor and fire the maintenance guy,” Jane said.
Malcolm laughed. It felt good for a few seconds, and then he went back to his computer. “Go ahead and schedule your caller in for the end of the day.” It wasn’t like he had anything he needed to be home for, and he could take an extra fifteen minutes to take a consultation.
“Okay,” she agreed and sat back. “God, I love these chairs. The one I have out front is awful.”
Malcolm paused in composing his e-mail and pushed away from his desk. “Get whatever chair you want. Consider it a birthday present. I have been trying to get the partners to upgrade some of the office furniture, but they aren’t interested.”
“I know. What we have looks fine, but they’re starting to lose their support.” She finished her salad and took the debris left from his lunch as she left the office, returning a few minutes later with another cup of coffee and a bottle of water. Malcolm knew the water was her way of saying that he drank too much coffee, and he probably did. So he opened the water and drank most of it before he started on his coffee.
He had a steady stream of clients that afternoon and ended the day with much more work than he’d started with. But he’d blocked out hours the following day to handle what he needed to, so he’d be all right. Sometimes he missed when he worked every waking hour of the day. He didn’t need to do that much now, but it would give him something to fill the empty hours he spent alone.
“Your last appointment is here,” Jane said, poking her head into his office.
“Thank you,” Malcolm said as he made notes from his previous meeting and added them to the client file. “Please send them in and go home. I’ll see you in the morning.”
She checked her watch. “Are you sure?”
“Of course.” He looked up at her as he stopped typing. “Why? If I know you, you’ve already finished your day’s work and have my schedule for tomorrow set and ready to go.” He glanced at the clock on his computer. “Just go and have a good evening.” He wasn’t going to quibble about half an hour. Jane stayed late plenty of times, and he liked that he could give her more time with her children.
“Thanks.” She hurried away, and a man took her place in the doorway.
“Mr. Webber.”
Malcolm put up his finger and went back to typing. He had to finish these notes or he’d forget some of the details. “Please take a seat. I just need a minute.” He typed faster and got the last note down, then saved the file before closing it. “How can I help you?” He looked up from his screen and saw an impressive set of blue eyes staring back at him. They seemed to be David’s eyes, and for a second he was confused. Hope shot through him, followed by a wave of unexpected grief. At the office he’d always been able to function, but not at that second. Malcolm blindly reached for his drawer and grabbed a tissue. He turned away and used it to cover his eyes. Shit, this couldn’t happen now. The blue eyes weren’t David’s eyes because they weren’t attached to David, but for a second his heart had leaped with hope that was, of course, futile.
